Examines the functions of the three basic response forms in Japanese: "hai,""ee," and "un." Frequently, the distinction between them is described as politeness vs. formality. Shows that the difference among the three forms lies also in their functions. (Author/VWL)

Examines the nature of discourse in which students talk with each other about what they think. Analyzes student-generated inquiry discussions in which students engage in extended student-student interactions without much intervention from the researcher. (Author/CCM)

Examines how interlocutors' beliefs about each other's goals affect conversational references, comparing pairs who were either informed or noninformed about the goal difference, or misinformed that goals were the same. Finds that misinformed and noninformed pairs overlooked clues that may have signaled the goal discrepancy, made conversational…

Compares the communicative effectiveness of spontaneous monologues and dialogues on nonparticipating addressees overhearing talk. Finds that overhearers were more accurate at following instructions in a referential communication task when listening in on dialogues than when listening in on monologues. Suggests greater number of discourse markers…

Discusses Goedel's Theorem (said to mark the loss of certainty in formal logic and the beginning of the postmodern reformulation of the nature of knowledge). Shows Goedel's proof as an eloquent model-changing text that (1) demonstrates the inability of language to represent reality in a way that guarantees unambiguous communication; and (2) uses…

Applies M. Foucault's account of power-discourse and its relationship to its owners to aspects of late 19th/early 20th centuries, when new technologies have multiplied the capacity of power-discourse to intervene in lives. Identifies industrial urban crowd as a target for discourse; considers this conjunction in light of Foucault's theories.…

Transcripts of interviews with trade union trainers in Australia identified contradictory discourses: discourse of struggle and discourse on the economy. Some training activities focused on consensus building in workplace relations, but trainers' informal theories acknowledged the power imbalance between the working class and management. (SK)

Argues one increasingly popular move in remaking moral philosophy and rhetorical and argumentation theory, the move to ally reason with emotion, is not without peril. Finds contemporary theories that link emotion to reason to be more promising than the Enlightenment's marginalization of emotion but not an improvement on the Enlightenment. Examines…

Outlines a method for analyzing one form of discourse colonization, termed "genre colonization." Applies this method to a specific case to illustrate both the method in practice and the mechanisms used to effect genre colonization within the discourse. Finds that a framework for undertaking genre colonization emerges. Raises some ethical…

A collaborative research project examines limitations of and identifies opportunities for moral practices in the inner city. Discourse analysis and Maxcy's theory of critical pragmatism unite methods of data analysis with participants' relationships, needs, and values to expand the centers of moral discourse among urban educators. (MMU)

The functional literacy discourse ignores the ideological role of literacy in society and enables workers to be blamed for poor economic performance. A more meaningful concept of literacy at work includes understanding workplaces as communities of practice and inclusion of the voices and experiences of workers. (SK)

States several postmodernist currents of thought have rejected the modernist faith in a stable, autonomous self (and the natural culture it inhabits) as a pernicious fiction. Argues for a dialectical view of self and culture, exploring the weaknesses of both modernist and postmodernist models through an analysis of "Dances with Wolves,"…

Extends the notion of language awareness to include intercultural communicative awareness. The interconnectedness of language and cultural processes is illustrated through a discussion of metapragmatic awareness. The second half of the article looks at the potential of misunderstandings in intercultural communication and charts some of the…

Using a contingency framework, three stages in the evolution of human resource development (HRD) in the National Health Service were identified: tell (training enacted within the classical management paradigm); sell (a competence approach to development for all employees); and gel (strategic HRD linked to corporate goals and future needs).…

Examines vocatives and theme in Japanese discourse. Based on examples taken from comics, romance novels, and fiction, argues that vocative and thematic strategies are pragmatically motivated in a similar manner, and they both convey the speaker's varying emotional expressivity toward participants and characters relevant in discourse. (Author/VWL)